Jess Is Gone
by luvtheheaven
Summary: Rory calls Luke at the end of 3x21 "Here Comes The Son", trying to get some answers. She was just told that Jess is gone. Luke knows where he went, and she wants to know too. Very Literati & Jess focused. Oneshot.


_**Author's Note:**_

MissGoalie75 and I were sending messages back and forth last night, and then I realized that in season 3, episode 21, "Here Comes the Son", we see that Jess went to California/went to his father.

We also see very brief glimpses into Luke's and Rory's perspectives on this, via one Luke/Lorelai scene and one Rory/Lorelai scene.

In the following episode, 3x22 "Those are Strings, Pinocchio", Rory says a lot of things while on her one-sided phone call with Jess. Including that he could have told her that his father had been there and that he wasn't graduating. Which means that at some point, Rory found out. We all know Jess didn't tell her. And really the only people who know those two things were Jess and Luke! (And Jimmy I suppose, by the end of "Here Comes The Son").

So here's a very brief oneshot about how Rory found out. Because she _must _have had a conversation with Luke.

MissGoalie75 also got inspired at the same time to write a fic about this unseen Rory/Luke moment. She'll be posting hers around the same time as I post this... ;) We both know we didn't copy each other. Regardless of how similar they may or may not be. ;) (Update as of 12-14-10: She posted hers as Chapter 82 of her Footnotes and Annotations "story" (it's really a collection of separate moments, so you can read chapter 82 without reading the others) and it's so good, please check it out!)

So this is dedicated to her. She's a fantastic writer, so check her stories out now if you haven't already. ;)

Oh and also – special thanks to Alicia (GreysALIASAnatomy on YouTube, AliGraysAnatomy on twitter) for proofreading this for me. I really appreciate it. If any of you read this and notice any spelling or simple grammatical errors that she & I both missed, please let me know in the reviews and I'll revise this and fix the mistake(s).

Jess is Gone

"Hey," Lorelai said while reaching out to grab Rory's arm. "Listen," she continued, and now she had one hand on each of Rory's arms, forcing Rory to face her. "My little Holly Hunter in broadcast news. I am gonna let you freak out and study like a madwoman and stress yourself out until finals, but once they're over we are gonna celebrate big time, because this is _amazing_."

Rory tried to look pleased, and grinned at her mother with slightly teary eyes. "Yeah," she admitted in agreement, "it is." She really wanted to tell Jess about how she was valedictorian. She wanted him to be proud of her. That's why she hadn't told her mother yet, because she'd really wanted to tell Jess first. But they had been on rocky ground ever since Kyle's party... it was never the right time to bring it up... and now... now telling him wasn't an option, so she simply kept smiling and let her mother kiss her cheek and beam at her.

"Okay," Lorelai said. "Now go make Mommy nervous."

Rory was about to cry and quickly turned away to go into her room. She shut the door. She truly did have a ton of studying to do, she didn't really have time to sleep despite being so tired, and she didn't have _any_ time to write a valedictorian speech. But despite all of that, the only thing she could do right now was think about Jess.

Now that she was alone, she let it sink in. _Jess is gone. Gone. Luke doesn't seem to think he's __coming back_. Rory was not exactly surprised, it seemed like Jess had been slowly disappearing ever since Kyle's party. So to now have completely disappeared... it just didn't seem shocking. But she was still confused. Jess said he couldn't go to the prom... he couldn't get tickets. What did that mean? Why wouldn't he be able to get tickets? She should have asked him on the bus. But he didn't seem to want to explain so she hadn't pushed it. He said he'd call her. But now he was gone. Was he really going to call?

She needed answers. She hoped he would call. She hoped he would defy Luke and Rory's expectations by coming back to town tomorrow. He couldn't just be gone. Not without saying goodbye. Not without telling someone where he was going. Wait. Luke knows where he was going, that's what Lorelai had said. She started to dial Luke before even realizing what she was doing. She was just so desperate for answers.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Luke. It's... Rory."

"Rory." Luke almost sounded like he'd been expecting this call.

"Mom told me." She hoped Luke would understand what she was trying to say. She couldn't say the actual words yet. That would make it too real.

"I figured," Luke said, then paused. "Are you okay?" he said quietly, with genuine concern in his voice.

"I'm confused Luke," Rory said in a pleading tone. "Mom said you knew where he went."

Luke knew she was asking him to tell her. "Well I'm not sure when you last spoke to Jess, or how much he told you..." he trailed off.

Rory took a deep breath, determined to remain calm. "Jess didn't tell me much of anything. Our last real conversation was before Kyle's party. Please Luke, just tell me what you know."

Luke sighed. "Well we didn't exactly have any real conversation either... but we had a big fight. Lots of yelling and we were both really upset and then I think I kicked him out. I didn't mean it. I didn't want him to just leave like this. I'm... I'm so sorry Rory."

Rory was surprised to learn this, it was not at all what she'd been expecting to hear. "Can you tell me what the fight was about, and what you both said? Please? I'm still confused."

"Well Jess's father Jimmy, who you probably know he never met, came into the diner. And left his wallet by accident. I found it, and went over to the hotel Jimmy was staying at to return it. I told Jimmy to stay away from Jess, I didn't want him to... to upset Jess. I knew he couldn't be around for any good reason. He probably needed money or something. I probably shouldn't have done that. But I was mad at Jimmy for abandoning Jess and not being there even once for his entire life! And I didn't feel like he had a right to waltz right back in and mess things up even more for Jess, which I was sure he'd do. I threatened Jimmy, and I'm not the threatening type, you know me."

"I do," Rory said softly.

"And I thought he'd get the message to stay away from Jess. But he didn't. Because I came back to the apartment after Fran's funeral... actually it was after stopping by Kyle's house and writing a check to Kyle's father so that they wouldn't press charges against Jess! You know, for the fight and all the damage Jess caused... you were there, weren't you? Can you fill me in later on what the hell happened and why Jess and Dean were fighting like that all throughout the house?" Luke knew it must have had something to do with Rory, it was Rory's two boyfriends fighting after all, but what could they be fighting about? Dean wasn't one to start fights, from what he knew about him... and Jess had Rory now. So there was no obvious reason for Jess to start the fight with Dean. Luke wanted an explanation. "Anyway... Jess was waiting for me. He knew I'd gone to see Jimmy. Jess was mad at me for not telling him or preparing him. He felt I owed him that, and that he had the right to know. But instead of apologizing and telling him he was right, even though I knew he was right, I... kept making excuses. And then he... he told me he wasn't graduating high school! Did you know that he wasn't graduating?"

"No I didn't know," Rory answered quietly. So that was why he couldn't get prom tickets. It made some sense now. But at the same time it made no sense at all. She knew Jess was smart enough to graduate high school, especially the laughably easy Stars Hollow High. Jess was truly the smartest person she'd ever met. She was so... disappointed. Not graduating high school... how could she have let him get to that point? But her thoughts were interrupted by Luke continuing to speak.

"Yeah well apparently he skipped too much school and they wouldn't let him graduate. I... I really failed him. It was practically my only job in terms of being his guardian: make sure he graduates high school. But there he was saying he didn't go to school and so he wasn't graduating." Luke paused for a moment. "So I came up with a plan. I told him he should live with me for another year, take twelfth grade over, quit his job, and graduate. But Jess said 'no' and yelled at me that he was _not_ going back to school. So... I said he had to go. Then this morning, I noticed his stuff was just... gone. I figure he went to California because that's where Jimmy said he was living now. I don't know for sure, Jess didn't tell me or anything... but wouldn't you assume that's where he's headed?"

Rory nodded to herself. "Yeah probably. California. His father. Wow. I had no idea about any of that... just wow."

"I'm so sorry, Rory, I never wanted anything like this to happen... I know you must be hurting and it's all my fault. For that I apologize," Luke said, almost wishing he could see her in person right now, because despite not usually being the sensitive type, at the moment he had this almost fatherly desire to give her a hug.

"Luke, it is not at all your fault. This is all Jess's fault. Not Jess's father's, and definitely not yours. He should have been graduating, and well the fight at Kyle's party really was Dean's fault and maybe kind of mine... Dean went kind of crazy and started the fight after Jess had made me cry..." Rory trailed off and didn't really feel like explaining, but she left too long of a pause and Luke interjected.

"Jess made you cry at Kyle's party? What did he do?" Luke sounded so angry at Jess.

"Oh I don't know Luke, it's not a big deal. He... it doesn't matter, really. Don't worry about it."

"Please Rory, you can tell me. I really want to know." Luke sounded more understanding and calmer now.

"Fine... well... he was hiding alone in an upstairs bedroom while the party was going on downstairs. And I found him and asked him what was wrong. He looked so... unhappy. I asked him what happened, and he said nothing. I asked him if he was... if he was tired of me," Rory said, her voice starting to crack a little. "But he just kissed me, he didn't answer me. But I took it as an indication that he wasn't tired of me. Now... now I'm not so sure though."

"Aw Rory," Luke reassured, "I'm sure he wasn't tired of you, not at all, I can tell how much he loved being around you. There's no way he would get tired of you. Don't think that."

"Anyway then... something happened... and well he ended up yelling at me. He yelled at me that he did _not_ invite me up there. Like he _really_ didn't want me around." Rory's voice was breaking now, she couldn't stop it. "All I wanted to do was be there for him, for him to tell me what was going on, why he was upset. I wanted him to let me in. But he..." Rory took a moment to regain her composure. Swallowing, she continued, "Well anyway that's why I was crying when I ran out of the room and Dean happened to be there, and saw me crying... and so the fight happened."

"So the fight _was_ Jess's fault," Luke muttered, more to himself than to Rory. Rory didn't disagree.

After a few more moments, Rory spoke. "Anyway Luke, none of it was your fault. _None_ of it. Don't you understand? Jess was lying to both of us about how often he was going to school. He was refusing to let me help him, let me be there for him, and so I bet he was doing the same thing to you. I know how much you wanted to help him, even if Jess refused to see it."

Luke smiled slightly. "Thanks Rory. So... are you a bit less confused now? Or did everything I just told you just confuse you more?"

Rory considered for a moment. "I am less confused now, thank you. There are still a few questions left that only Jess can answer, but... hopefully he'll call me. That's the last thing he said to me. The last thing I said was 'you'll call me?' and then he said yeah, he'd call. So... I'm hoping he will."

Luke hoped he would call Rory too. He also wished he would call him, let him know he was okay... but Luke knew Jess wouldn't. The last thing Rory had said to him was a request to call her. The last thing he had said to Jess was "you gotta go", a clear statement indicating that Jess wasn't welcome in Luke's apartment anymore. Gosh Luke wished he could take it back, get one more chance to talk to Jess. Luke realized he was still on the phone with Rory. Someone still had to initiate a goodbye.

"So... you probably should be getting to bed, right? Don't you have a final exam tomorrow or something?"

Rory sighed, "Yeah well... I wanted to study a bit more before bed. But I should be getting back to it. Hey Luke, guess what?"

"What?"

"I was named valedictorian."

"Aw that's amazing Rory. Congratulations." He really was so happy for her, he knew she deserved it.

"Thanks Luke," Rory replied, smiling. "Goodnight."

Rory hung up the phone and forced herself to temporarily shut Jess out of her mind. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out the flashcards she had made herself on the Bolshevik Revolution.


End file.
